CIRCA 1793-1802, BLUE SEVRES MARKS, PAINTER'S LG. MARKS FOR LOUIS-ANTOINE LE GRAND

This type of decoration using gold and platinum seems to have mostly been produced in the 1790s (a small number of pieces before that time are known). The production of some important suites of lacquer furniture delivered to the royal family at the palaces of Versailles, Saint-Cloud, Compiègne and Bellevue in the 1780s may have inspired interest. The use of platinum in place of silver was introduced at this time, the main advantage being that the platinum did not tarnish. For a discussion of this type of decoration see Adrian Sassoon, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Vincennes and Sèvres Porcelain, Malibu, 1991, pp. 152-155. There are a small number of services and plates recorded with this type of decoration, see David Peters, Sevres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, Little Berkhamsted, 2005, p. 948, although none of these services record candlesticks. For this form of candlestick see the pair sold in these Rooms on 16 November 2010, lot 106.

Louis-Antoine Le Grand is recorded as a painter and gilder of chinoiseries, birds and flowers at the Sèvres manufactory from 1776 to 1824.